Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/effective-teachers-for-dual-language-learners/5021351/
VIGNETTE:During morning circle time, Alonso was quite excited and wanted to share an outing he had taken with his family over the weekend. Alonso’s home language is Spanish, and he kept repeating certain phrases in Spanish at such a rapid pace that Ms. Sheila could not understand him. Ms. Sheila asked her assistant, who is fluent in Spanish and English, to help interpret. Alonso then described the wedding of his Aunt Lucinda. He went into great detail about who was there, what they had to eat, and the special clothes that everyone had to wear. Ms. Sheila then asked the assistant to help Alonzo make a book with pictures of the wedding. During small-group time, she wrote the words in Spanish as Alonso dictated the events of the wedding. They made a cover page identifying Alonzo as the author, made up a title, “Aunt Lucinda’s Wedding,” then numbered the pages and bound them together. The next day Alonzo proudly read the book to the class, very carefully turning each page after showing everyone the pictures and narrating the sequence of events. (California Department of Education, 2010, p. 209)
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This vignette shows how two teachers can work together to meet the needs of ...